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Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Finding Boondocking spots using the internet

Since the weather has been pretty in-consistent this time of year I have been using the down time to build a data base of boondocking camping spots for future travels and hanging out.

I have been playing with a system that seems to be working pretty good.

First of all, when traveling to areas (that are new to me) I use GPS software from DeLorme, on a netbook laptop computer (with a GPS adaptor from DeLorme ) as the GPS device.
This works out well because of the larger screen, a mouse to navigate the program, you can zoom in when needed, you can add waypoints, there is no limit, you can use a measuring device for distances, add map notes, make your own icons, and also download compatible files from the folks like the Discovery Owners Association, Inc. as you can see there are many more features you can do with a netbook and software than with a regular GPS dumb box, at least when traveling in a rig. Also I use 110 volt inverter power to keep the computer running, without relying on battery power of the computer itself.

A shelf has been installed below the radio, in the suburban, with Velcro tabs to hold the computer in place.

#2. I use the internet to look up BLM websites that will list dispersed free camping areas, (almost all are in the western US), US Forest Service web site for dispersed camping, FreeCampsites.net (have personally met them they are awesome) I also follow Blogs of full-timing RVers who will let you know where they stay through the year and will rate these places for you with pictures.

#3. I also use google earth, the cool thing about using google earth is you can zoom in on a spot and use the thumbtack feature to mark the gps coordinates, copy those numbers, to the find feature of the topo program, save them in the topo map, along with a link to a web page that I save on the hard drive, to be able to pull up the spot information, without internet acess.

So, by using information from a search engine (google) and saving (save page as) the information to the hard drive and using a netbook and software with a GPS receiver, you have a very good navigation system without the need for internet access, which can be hard to find in the boonies.

So now, you can have up to date information (paper maps are at least one year old), once you have the equipment it is basically free, and it is fully customizable for your needs.